Notes From A Meeting: Fix Dolores Park but Don’t Change Anything

The meeting at 6:30 pm on Monday in the wood-paneled rec room of Dolores Park Church, was meant to discuss the proposed design changes to the park for its upcoming renovations – the irrigation, the playground, the bathrooms, the tennis courts, the basketball court, the pedestrian bridge, the soccer field, the lighting.

The crowd of 60-odd attendees were exhorted to fill a survey about how they used the park. (Park uses that one can check off include: picnicking, mediation, tai chi.)

And yet, the question that Jake Gilchrist, the project manager, keeps getting asked as attendees continue to trickle in is: are you going to close the park for two years? No, says Gilchrist. No no and no.

“I am going to make a t-shirt,” says Gilchrist. “It will say. ‘We are NOT closing Dolores Park for Two Years.’ And then I am going to wear it everywhere.”

Originally, Dolores Park was going to be closed down entirely for at least a year and a half. The resulting groundswell of public protest was a sign of what ordinary Mission residents can accomplish together – at least when someone threatens to take Dolores Park away. The plans were changed: the park will be closed off sequentially.

“You couldn’t close that park for two years,” says Gilchrist, wearily. “There’s no fence high enough. You’d have to put a dome over it. We are not going to put a dome over it. Any questions?”

A woman raises her hand. “Why is there no recycling in Dolores Park? It would be nice if you could get a plan together for more trash collection. And extra port-a-potties.”